A woman has claimed that teenage passengers aboard a recent Spirit Airlines flight were stopped from bringing their dog on the plane until fellow passengers stepped in to pay, despite already paying for the pet’s seat.
In a video shared earlier this month, Chainy, who goes by the username @geminiblondebby on TikTok, uploaded a clip of herself sitting in her plane seat and shaking her head before turning the camera around to show the front of the plane.
In the text caption on the clip, the TikToker claimed that her plane had been “stopped” because Spirit employees didn’t want to allow the passengers to “fly with their dog THEY PAID FOR”.
According to Chainy, the airline wanted the 16 year olds to “pay again, with no credit card”.
While Chainy did not show the flight attendants or the passengers in question, she said that the incident was ultimately resolved after a “bunch of strangers on the plane chipped in and paid for them so we can take off”.
In the caption of the video, Chainy said that the one of the passengers who allegedly paid for the teenagers’ dog suggested that the animal be allowed to run up and down the plane aisle.
“Lol, guy who paid says: ‘Let the dog run up and down the aisle now, gotta get our money’s worth,’” the TikToker wrote.
In a follow-up video, Chainy said that the group of 16 year old teens had originally planned to fly with one of their father’s, but that the father ended up not boarding the plane.
According to Chainy, the issue arose after the airline claimed that the dog had been paid for on the father’s ticket, and wouldn’t be allowed on the flight because the passenger in question hadn’t checked in.
“The dog was paid for on the dad’s ticket and because the dad didn’t check in, they said they couldn’t bring the dog and that they needed to pay on one of their tickets again,” Chainy said, adding that it was a “whole debacle”.
The issue was reportedly resolved when multiple passengers chipped in to pay for the cost of the dog’s entry in cash, according to Chainy, who recalled how the passengers had then cheered in the hopes that the pet would run up and down the aisle.
“Obviously that didn’t happen but we did get to take off,” the TikToker recalled, before adding that the flight attendants were being “so rude for no reason” and that the teenage passengers had already been seated on the plane before the issue arose.
As of 28 February, the TikToker’s initial video has been viewed more than 1.1m times, prompting many viewers to criticise the airline.
“If they already paid what’s the issue! I would be requesting a refund,” one viewer wrote, while another said: “They let them on the plane and demanded more money from them…? What in the entire world.”
Someone else added: “That makes zero sense. If dad had a paid ticket and didn’t come it shouldn’t matter. The dog has a paid seat.”
However, others defended the airline, with one person claiming: “The passenger that paid wasn’t on the flight. Can’t blame the airline for this one.”
According to another viewer, who claimed to be an airline employee, the airline staff’s response “makes sense because of how it’s booked on our end”.
“The dad should’ve called and had it changed,” they added.
In response to the comment, Chainy said that she agreed, but that “at the end of the day, the dog shouldn’t have been able to board the plane if there was an issue” and that the airline staff shouldn’t have “wasted” its customers’ time because of a “mistake not caught by employees”.
According to Spirit Airlines’ website, it allows “small domesticated pets to travel on all domestic flights” as long as the “combined weight of the pet and carrier does not exceed 40 pounds”.
The airline also notes that advance notice for pets is “recommended but not required”. As for the cost, Spirit says that passengers must pay $110 per pet container, each way.
The Independent has contacted Spirit Airlines and Chainy for comment.
